Just across the street from YBCA, the sign at the museum's Third Street entrance reads: "Think Outside the Building." So Modern Ball chairwoman Christine Lamondand designer Stanlee Gatti transformed the YBCA grounds, gardens and Metreon's City View into a magical playland for the ball's three-parties-in-one format.

The Patrons' Tent was set in a clear tent above the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial & Waterfall. Its interior was all white until twilight - then a fluorescent tube chandelier and tables illuminated by a recessed blue bulb flickered to life.

"I'm aiming for a minimally full feeling," said Gatti. "But I'm taking artistic license to interpret the tools which James Turrelland Dan Flavinuse to create their illuminated works."

McCall's Catering produced three delicious dinners - a sit-down for patrons; canape and cocktail service among Gatti's flower-power banquettes in the Supper Club; and late-night noshes for Post-Modern Party guests who got their groove (and headphones) on in a Silent Disco as they awaited the decidedly secular sounds of Holy Ghost.

"The museum doesn't reopen until 2016, but we're determined to engage our current members as we attract a new audience," said Lamond, resplendent in a red-hot gown by Valentino, which served as a ball sponsor and inspired sartorial savviness.

Art adviser Sabrina Buellwas happy to be in something other than pajamas: Just four days before, this striking brunette and her partner, industrial designer Yves Béhar, had welcomed their second daughter, Soleyl Behar.

Works of art were on the menu, too, with a Sotheby's live auction (corralled by Lamond, Pam Kramlich, Norah Stone, Lindsay Tusk) that garnered $600K for Luc Tuymans' "Dad's Heat, 2013." But it was Tusk and her husband, chef Michael Tusk, who pulled in the top take - $150K - for a dinner they'll cook up with fellow toques (Dominique Crenn, David Kinch, Joshua Skenes) for 16 guests.

Taking a final gander at the museum's dramatically lit oculus (all fabulously switched on by Got Light), we were surprised to see SFMOMA board Chairman Charles Schwab.

"This is just a small taste of what's to come at SFMOMA," he enthused. "When the museum reopens, it's going to be even more spectacular - a place of great fun, joy and a beacon for Bay Area culture."

And, no, he insisted - the hour was not yet too late for him or his wife, honorary ball co-chairwoman Helen Schwab: "We're inspired by all these young people," Schwab said. "They're our next generation, and they want art in their lives."